Customer Reviews

Last of the Mountain Men

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sylvan hart lived as remote and pure a life as any man in the last half of this century. He was supremely skilled in survival, yet his skills were art. Perhaps his knowledge of natures resources and techniques of self sufficiency encouraged his retreat from society, but he must have also have been drawn by ancestral voices. This book delivers the reader to pristine, soon to be rediscovered Salmon River wilderness in Idaho. Looking over the shoulder of this man's calm, deliberate and happy practices of early skills may be your only insight to the price you are paying for societal safety.

Bill was our cloest neighbor for year we spent at Mackey Bar. Here was a man with emense talents in gardening, engineering, wilderness survival and with a very humerous side. The first time I met Bill he told me the story about a teacher (I was the teacher at Mackey Bar) who came back there many years ago. The story goes that a certain lady had taken a liking to him but he was unresponsive to which they found him face down in a ditch, retired. That was my introduction to Bill. This book captures much of Bills life and is an excellent story of a truly great American. In all our fantasies we think we can go to the wilderness and live happily ever after. Not so, not true. It's a jungle out there folks but Bill did it with flare and grace. He was a frontier gentleman. He really took a liking to my wife. He changed her name to Bridget because he said she reminded him of the patron saint of the Celts. I found in Bill someone I could talk to about current events (he subscribed to the New York Times), art, literature and of course, living in the wilderness. His life was art as you can see by the many illstrations in Peterson's book. My hats off to Peterson for capturing a truly unique individual. A must read for those interested in a man of our time living in another time.

My review is very brief. I met the Last of the Mountain Men in 1975 and contrary to those who think he was not a Mountain Man, they are very much mistaken. I lived in Idaho at the time and went to the River of No Return, the Salmon River near where Buckskin Bill lived. But, I saw him in Donnelly, Idaho instead and he wrote in the paperback book I had about him, entitled "Last of the Mountain Men," the following two words only: "Be Prepared!" And, he signed it in hieroglyphics (in this sense: A system of writing which uses pictures for concepts and ideas). He drew in crayon for me in the book a picture of a deer head with antlers (buck), a picture of a skinned deer, and a picture of a beak of a bird (bill). This is all TRUE! Hence, Buckskin Bill!

I give this book a 5 star rating because I read it, but more than that, I met the man and he definitely was a Mountain Man.

John Lisowski
Juneau, Alaska

The other reviewers of this book have been thoroughly unfair. Sylvan Hart lived an amazing life of self sufficiency even to the point of mining and smelting the metals he used to make his flint locks. He was more than well equipped when it came to survival skills and eschewed most of modern technology, accomplishing things remarkably well the old fashioned way. This is a great read for anyone interested in truly living off the land.

This book is an inspiration to anyone who wishes to be more independent and self reliant. Sylvan Hart epitomizes these qualities. It was his inspiration which lead my husband and I to find land in North Idaho and build our own log home far from the power lines and mail run.
The author does a superb job of introducing you to this unique and accomplished character. I have given my copy of the book away too many times and now have some in reserve for the next person who shows more thatn a passing interest in a self-contained life and nearly total off-the-grid independence.

This book is a fraud and Peterson has shamelessly manipulated the facts. Sylvan Hart himself called this book "a crock of crap". If you want to know who this interesting man actually was, you need to read "A River Went Out Of Eden" by Chana B. Cox. Cox lived with Hart for EIGHT YEARS along with her husband and 3 children and numerous visitors and hired hands. She was living there when Peterson came along and apparently realized that he had a goldmine in Sylvan Hart if only he could get rid of all those other people. And so, by using carefully staged photos and a carefully edited text he created the myth of Buckskin Bill, the mountain man who lived alone way out in the wilderness, hunted bear, cougar and elk with homemade rifles, wore clothes made from hides and disdained money and civilization. Its a cute story if you shelve it next to Tarzan; much of it is fiction.
Item. Hart did not live miles from the nearest road, but just across the river from one. You could drive to his place when the road was open from June-Sept., snowmobile there in the winter, or fly in to Mackay Bar and walk the road or jet boat up to his place. Remote, yes; isolated, no. Lots of ranches in the West are just as remote.
Item. Hart had neighbors. The nearest one was just across the river in the old mining town where Hart salvaged many of the things he used to build his homestead. There was a large family at Wilson Bar just 2 miles downriver and more people at Mackay Bar. Hart liked people and had frequent visitors who often stayed for months. He enjoyed showing off for tourists like Peterson.
Item. Hart had many guns, most of which used store-bought ammo. He made black powder guns and buckskin clothes as a hobby.
Item. Hart mostly wore store-bought clothes. He did not believe in laundering them and wore his underwear and socks until they rotted off. He believed that a layer of dirt on his skin protected him from the elements, so he rarely bathed. You did not want to be downwind of this guy.
Item. Hart used money to buy food, ammo, dynamite, clothes, newspapers and to travel. He even had a passport and went overseas on commercial airliners. Cox claims that Hart never got a dime from Peterson for his book.

Hart was an interesting guy. After you read the Cox book you may want to keep the photos from the Peterson book and toss his text into the stove.

Awesome to think about life for Buckskin Bill. Makes you feel like you know the man and depressed that you never got the chance to stop by when on a float on the main salmon and say hi.

I really enjoyed this book, Sylvan Hart was quite a man with a fascinating story. The author also included a lot of history going well back into the 19th century. Writing at times is a little disjointed but topics are covered very well and the book is a great read overall.

I was thrilled to find this book by accident. I haven't thought about it in years. I first read it in 69 while in the Navy. Being from Idaho, any book on Idaho and the people of the state interrests me. I had actually met Buckskin Bill when I was in 5th grade. An old friend of his took me hunting and we met him and his brother in the mountains. I didn't know that was who I met until I read the book. This book is a fun read even if it isn't entirely about Sylvan Hart.

Having read most of the books that covered the REAL mountain men of the early 1900's, this book was terribly disappointing and the title is misleading. Sylvan Hart took his engineering degree and moved to a remote location that his family owned and lived more as an eccentric than a true mountain man. He died in 1980 and had been giving tours of his Five Mile "wilderness" before that. I give him credit for being a naturalist, innovator and someone who could live off the land. However, this book is not talking about any true mountain man who dealt with the early history of the West. He certainly didn't have to face obstacles that Fitzpatrick, Smith, Bridger and other true Mountain Men of the 1810-1850's did. It belongs in some other category. My pick would be "Boring". It is told in a descriptive narrative that makes you feel you are in a classroom listening to someone decribe how someone lived LIKE someone else. I give this one a Major Thumbs Down. If Sylvan Hart was the "Last Mountain Man". then there was 1 too many!